Published: Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 5:57 p.m.

For two months this year, Christian pop singer Matthew West holed up in a cabin outside Nashville with granola bars, decaf coffee and 10,000 personal essays by strangers.

Facts

Matthew West, Josh Wilson and Johnny Diaz

When: 7 tonightWhere: Church of the Springs, 5425 S.E. 58th Ave., OcalaTickets: $15 general admission, $23 for first 10 rows and $50 for VIP.Contact: www.thejoyfm.com/event/west or 800-456-8910

It started as a unique path to a new CD, a collection of songs inspired by fans.

It ended as a game changer, a series of powerful epiphanies that forced West to examine his own life.

“Something changed in me,” West said about writing songs for “The Story of Your Life.”

Released in August, the CD hit No. 3 on Billboard’s Christian chart and remains at No. 5. Its first single, “My Own Little World,” holds steady at No. 6. The CD also is a hit on iTunes.

No stranger to chart success, West said he pays little attention to the numbers. It’s the content and context that matters, and he will revel in much of that new material when he performs tonight at Church of the Springs with Josh Wilson and Johnny Diaz.

“I had this idea for a record where every song would be inspired by peoples’ lives,” West said. “I think a lot of people really feel they have ownership in this idea. It’s their story, you know? It’s pretty cool.”

While the creative process for “Story of Your Life” evolved in quiet reflection in a cabin, the idea’s springboard was the social media outlets Twitter and Facebook. West is an active blogger and a tech-savvy artist who understands the value of the Internet in modern music marketing, so that was the first and best way to invite fans to send their personal stories.

What he didn’t expect was the soul-shaking chronicles that arrived with the inspirational vignettes. About 25 percent of the first 1,000 entries were stories of abuse, often sexual abuse.

“I was floored. I was shocked. I remember sitting in that cabin the first few days and going ‘What have I done? I didn’t ask for this.’ I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that. How am I going to address this topic of abuse to the Christian-music community, let alone the whole world, and somehow shed a light of hope on it.”

There were times he concluded he couldn’t.

West is a Dove Award nominee whose music is mostly about the joyous side of life. This was a tall, daunting order. He struggled with it, thinking about it on long walks in the woods. Soon, there came a turning point. He had to deliver what he promised.

“I felt I would be lying if all those stories of abuse never came to me,” he said.

“There were some topics that I just felt like, ‘Oh man, I wish I could pretend I never read this.’ But, at the same time, I felt that if I’m going to deliver this promise, I need to not be afraid of writing about some of these things that I read.”

So he surged on, cradling his guitar, relying on his faith and considering his response to sexual abuse. The result was the song “Broken Girl.”

“In my liner notes, I say, ‘You know who you are. This song is for you. You don’t have to stay the broken girl.’ Ironically, I believe it’s a song of hope. At the same time, I wrote that song out of the emotion of anger, which is new for me.

“I feel these songs are about real life. The good, the bad and the ugly. In real life, everybody has their fair share of all three of those.”

The songs trumpet the stories of fans, with the jubilant, multi-layered title track setting the tone. West was going a bit stir crazy in that cabin — he is a self-professed city boy — but he realized the stories were not only shaping a very unique CD, there were shaping him.

“I was focusing on other people. Here I was reading about all these other people for two months, and I started thinking about my own life. There are days in my regular, everyday life when I feel like I don’t spend any more than two seconds thinking about anyone but me,” he said.

“So something changes when you kind of lift your eyes out of your life. I began to see the world in a different light, and yet there were stories of victory and stories of failure and stories of addiction and stories of pain and people battling cancer. It ran the gamut from one extreme to the other.”

People are responding to the stories. The CD is a certified hit, and now the Joy FM radio network is backing West’s Florida dates. But the project’s biggest ripple followed him home.

“Some days I would read a story, and it would make me drive home to my wife and my children and hug ’em and kiss ’em and let ’em know that I love ’em,” he said. “ The impact it’s had on my life is something that I’m still really feeling.”

<p>For two months this year, Christian pop singer Matthew West holed up in a cabin outside Nashville with granola bars, decaf coffee and 10,000 personal essays by strangers.</p><p>It started as a unique path to a new CD, a collection of songs inspired by fans.</p><p>It ended as a game changer, a series of powerful epiphanies that forced West to examine his own life.</p><p>“Something changed in me,” West said about writing songs for “The Story of Your Life.”</p><p>Released in August, the CD hit No. 3 on Billboard's Christian chart and remains at No. 5. Its first single, “My Own Little World,” holds steady at No. 6. The CD also is a hit on iTunes.</p><p>No stranger to chart success, West said he pays little attention to the numbers. It's the content and context that matters, and he will revel in much of that new material when he performs tonight at Church of the Springs with Josh Wilson and Johnny Diaz.</p><p>“I had this idea for a record where every song would be inspired by peoples' lives,” West said. “I think a lot of people really feel they have ownership in this idea. It's their story, you know? It's pretty cool.”</p><p>While the creative process for “Story of Your Life” evolved in quiet reflection in a cabin, the idea's springboard was the social media outlets Twitter and Facebook. West is an active blogger and a tech-savvy artist who understands the value of the Internet in modern music marketing, so that was the first and best way to invite fans to send their personal stories.</p><p>What he didn't expect was the soul-shaking chronicles that arrived with the inspirational vignettes. About 25 percent of the first 1,000 entries were stories of abuse, often sexual abuse.</p><p>“I was floored. I was shocked. I remember sitting in that cabin the first few days and going 'What have I done? I didn't ask for this.' I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. How am I going to address this topic of abuse to the Christian-music community, let alone the whole world, and somehow shed a light of hope on it.”</p><p>There were times he concluded he couldn't.</p><p>West is a Dove Award nominee whose music is mostly about the joyous side of life. This was a tall, daunting order. He struggled with it, thinking about it on long walks in the woods. Soon, there came a turning point. He had to deliver what he promised.</p><p>“I felt I would be lying if all those stories of abuse never came to me,” he said.</p><p>“There were some topics that I just felt like, 'Oh man, I wish I could pretend I never read this.' But, at the same time, I felt that if I'm going to deliver this promise, I need to not be afraid of writing about some of these things that I read.”</p><p>So he surged on, cradling his guitar, relying on his faith and considering his response to sexual abuse. The result was the song “Broken Girl.”</p><p>“In my liner notes, I say, 'You know who you are. This song is for you. You don't have to stay the broken girl.' Ironically, I believe it's a song of hope. At the same time, I wrote that song out of the emotion of anger, which is new for me.</p><p>“I feel these songs are about real life. The good, the bad and the ugly. In real life, everybody has their fair share of all three of those.”</p><p>The songs trumpet the stories of fans, with the jubilant, multi-layered title track setting the tone. West was going a bit stir crazy in that cabin — he is a self-professed city boy — but he realized the stories were not only shaping a very unique CD, there were shaping him.</p><p>“I was focusing on other people. Here I was reading about all these other people for two months, and I started thinking about my own life. There are days in my regular, everyday life when I feel like I don't spend any more than two seconds thinking about anyone but me,” he said.</p><p>“So something changes when you kind of lift your eyes out of your life. I began to see the world in a different light, and yet there were stories of victory and stories of failure and stories of addiction and stories of pain and people battling cancer. It ran the gamut from one extreme to the other.”</p><p>People are responding to the stories. The CD is a certified hit, and now the Joy FM radio network is backing West's Florida dates. But the project's biggest ripple followed him home.</p><p>“Some days I would read a story, and it would make me drive home to my wife and my children and hug 'em and kiss 'em and let 'em know that I love 'em,” he said. “ The impact it's had on my life is something that I'm still really feeling.”</p>